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Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Elected as An Associate Member of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters (The Journey)

My journey and passion with Oil colour started while I was at Yaba College of Technology between 1992-1997. It was where I discovered this wonderful medium, up till then I had only painted in water based media.

ROI 2007- The painting Rush Hour III won the First Prize in the Winsor & Newton Under 35 Category.

I can't remember the exact year but something tells me it was in 1993! I heard a lot about the prolific painters in the Higher National Diploma classes while I was doing my National Diploma in General Art, from other art students in my class. They told me to ask politely to get a chance to watch them paint! I tried peeping through the windows first, but the windows were too high up! One day, a day that would be the day I got "trapped" in this medium was an afternoon when so many of these guys were painting pictorial compositions directly from sketches they had composed from life and imagination in their sketchbooks. They had massive palettes all placed out with juicy blobs of oil colour pressed out on them in a very orderly manner. Some of them had also mixed all the tones of each of the colours they were going to use to paint! The smell in the room was terrific! Turps and Linseed reeked in the whole place! I saw these guys absorbed completely in their paintings with various sized hog brushes bashing against their large canvases, the least sized canvas in the studio was a 24" by 36". These guys were bold with colour!! I was allowed to sit at the back and watch for a while, until I couldn't hold it again! I just shouted, "SEE COLOUR!!!"- which was a Nigerian way of saying, LOOK AT THOSE WONDERFUL COLOURS!!! That was it! From then, they would nickname me, "See Colour". That was the day I would decide to specialize in Painting! That was the day I got hooked on Oil Colour!

It's 20 years since I got introduced to the medium and I remember doing my first Oil painting in 1994 or there about. I accepted a commission to do 3 Oil paintings and I had never used the medium. I took up the challenge, gave it my best shot and my friend who commissioned me to do the work, paid me N800. That would be about £8.00 in today's Pound Sterling! But N800 was a great bonus for me and I went on to sell more work and win major art competitions where I was awarded N15,000(£100) in 1996! So I was thrilled with my improvement!

Then in 1999 I came back to London, where I was born, to continue my life and see if I could further my career. But when I came over it was a total shock! The culture shock was too much for me to handle! I went to the job centre in search of something I could do and it was a great disappointment! I couldn't get to do anything but menial jobs, so while doing menial jobs-I decided never to stop sketching even if I couldn't get back to painting. I later volunteered to share my art skills with homeless people at St Mungos in 1999 and I did that for 6 months after which I got a temporary job there. I later got a permanent job working with homeless people from 2001-2008. I would one day become full time painter in 2008, till date!

When I got enough money to buy my first set of oil colours in the UK, I was so pleased, that would have been around 2000 or 2001. Then the magic started again! I started painting portraits and I started getting commissions too, in oil!

Immediately I left Heatherley's I decided to take up entering into competitions and open exhibitions at the Mall Galleries. The first society that I got my work into was the Pastel Society, in 2006! Then I got into the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Royal Society of British Artists! I was so pleased that I finally tried the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2006. I was encouraged to take part because in 2005, one of the students from my Portrait class at Heatherley's won the 2nd or 3rd Prize in the Under 35 category. So I put in 2 works but none got in! I wasn't discouraged because one of them had a D, which means it was judged and then rejudged before it didn't make it into the final selection.

So I thought if I could get a D in my first attempt, I'll do much better work and see what would happen. In 2007, I entered 2 paintings: one of a Homeless guy and one of my Rush Hour Paintings. The Homeless Painting was Rejected BUT The RUSH HOUR painting was accepted and won the First Prize in the Under 35 category! I was over the moon! That was the first time I would get a painting into the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition and the last time I would be able to compete in the Under 35 category. It was a great boost for me to win and ever since then up till 2012, I have exhibiting regularly with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

ROI 2010- My painting at Norfolk was one of the paintings I did in my First Instructional DVD! You can get a copy of it with Town House Films.

In 2009 I was made a Provisional member and then in 2012 at the Annual General Meeeting after the December show I was elected an Associate Member! The journey has been long since I first discovered the medium and I am so glad to be associated with such a prestigious society!

ROI 2011-Great feeling again as my painting of "The Face of Homelessness, Kings Road" is one of the first to sell, even before the Private View starts!

I am also thrilled to be taking part in my first exhibition as an Associate member in April this year, at the A K Wilson Gallery. I'll update you with the details when the time is near.

ROI 2012- Great feeling as my painting "The Face of Homelessness, Earls Court" gets hung in the main gallery alongside Roger Dellar, A prolific painter and member of the RI and PS.

16 comments:

Adebanji, thanks for sharing your story, it is and you are truly inspirational.Congratulations on becoming an associate member of the Royal Institute, you really deserve it.Yeah!!! I'm so thrilled for you.

Having been an avid fan of your art for the last few years and seeing your work grow from strength to strength, I am truly thrilled to bits for you. This is sooooo well deserved. Congratulations Adebanji!!!

Your dedication and passion is truly inspirational and your success is so well deserved.Congratulations on becoming an associate member of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters!!! I'm sure that you will keep going from strength to strength. I will be cheering all the way. : )

I read your story and I see that you had a wonderful but relentless build up. I got your link through a friend and Church member of the Apostolic Faith Church, Anthony. he said you were one of his old-time friend in the Campus AVS. God bless you for a good job through the art medium.-Adebayo

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"Drawing is everything. When I was sixteen, I made over 400 drawings during that winter and spring. I drew mostly with a 2B pencil on typewriter paper. I drew during every spare moment. I’m heartened when I see your sketchbooks and see the way you’re always drawing at the Concept workshops. You remind me of me. When I was teaching university, I was disheartened by students who hadn’t paid their drawing dues, for unless you practice, you simply don’t know how to make lovely lines."-William Whitaker"Drawing is the basis of everything. All the way through the painting you must be questioning the drawing, right up to the very end. Otherwise you get the drawing right and fill it in with colour. As long as you get the effect you want, that's the important thing. You can use a piece of rag, a sable brush, a hoghair brush or a knife - it doesn't matter what."

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About Me

I am a little bloke with a big heart. I love the LORD cos he made me what I am today. I have a wonderful wife Ruth and a budding painter boy JOSH! He is 7 and a little girl who is 3!
I love sketching the human face, especially the people I meet from day to day, people I may never meet again!
So I sieze the opportunity, it's something that keeps me loving the place we all share.